Laos developed its culture and customs as the inland crossroads of trade and migration in
Southeast Asia over millennia. As of 2012 Laos has a population of roughly 6.4 million spread over 236,800 km
2 (91,400 sq miles), yielding one of the lowest population densities in Asia. Yet the country of Laos has an official count of over forty-seven ethnicities divided into 149 sub-groups and 80 different languages. The
Lao Loum have throughout the country’s history comprised the ethnic and linguistic majority. In Southeast Asia, traditional Lao culture is considered one of the
Indic cultures (along with
Burma,
Thailand and
Cambodia). Laos is geographically isolated and mountainous, bounded by the
Annamite Range in the east, forming a traditional political and cultural boundary with
Vietnam (a more
Chinese influenced
Sinitic culture). Much of the western borders of Laos are formed by the
Mekong River which provided the major means of inland trade despite limited navigability along the river’s length. Prior to the 20th century Lao principalities and the
Kingdom of Lan Xang extended to the
Sipsong Panna (
China),
Sipsong Chau Tai (
Vietnam), and
Khorat Plateau (today the northeast of
Thailand) where the river was used as a transportation artery to connect Lao peoples on both the right and left banks. However, the political history of Laos has been complicated by frequent warfare and colonial conquests by European and regional rivals. As a result, Laos today has cultural influence from
France,
Thailand,
China,
Vietnam,
Burma and
Cambodia. The history of Laos is unique with a national character defined by its diversity in both culture and customs.